Relax, it’s a film. A film that looks really funny, but only to a Canadian, I think.

Sunday, July 15, 2007
Hatred of Toronto examined in mockumentary at Montreal comedy festival

http://letsallhateto.com/

I found this part of the article particularly amusing:

Although Montreal would likely be the most fervant Toronto-hater in the country because of long-standing sports and cultural rivalries, Spence and Nerenberg found that’s not the case.

“The West only started hating Toronto in the way it does now in the last 20-30 years,” Nerenberg said. “This is a trend that Toronto isn’t really aware of. It’s news to them.”

Top honours go to Vancouver, Nerenberg said. “Vancouver is much more resentful.”

Another snort from Mr. Toronto.

“I think here’s what happens, is you have somebody who can’t cut it in Toronto. They like to lay around and smoke pot all day and maybe do the occasional kayak. So they move out to the ‘mountainlands’ where they can basically escape the responsibilities that we carry in Toronto to make the country work.”

But there is a bright spot to all the resentment. In a country threatened by political divisions and western alienation for years, hating Toronto is a great unifier.

“French, English, we can all hate Toronto,” Nerenberg said brightly. “What we discovered is that you could go to the most remote Inuit village in the Far North of Canada and you will find people who hate Toronto.

“You can go as far west as you want to go, you’ll find Toronto haters. You can go as far east. Rich, poor, short, tall, with mustaches, without mustaches, it doesn’t seem to matter. All these people can be unified by hating Toronto.”

I wonder how I can get a hold of this film now that it passed through Toronto already?

Daisies at work. These flowers have nothing to do with this post, I just thought it needed some colour.

It took some time, but I finally tracked down a copy of 101 Reykjavik (2000) after some fruitless enquiries at Blockbuster and Rogers Video. I didn’t think this film would be difficult to find, but the only DVD rental I found was at Queen Video, west of Spadina. Judging by the selection of titles on their shelves, I’ll probably head there directly for rentals rather than the big names. I stopped by the Blockbuster at Liberty Village last night and their foreign film section is minuscule.

Anyway, I was interested in seeing 101 Reykjavik because I’d read a fair amount about it (some of the viewers’ comments on IMDB.com are hilarious*) and I was interested in getting a feel for Icelandic pronunciation. Seriously, some of the Icelandic words are so long I don’t even know where to begin trying to pronounce them. It’s as if someone plonked a massive word steak in front of me and didn’t give me any utensils.

I’ve watched a number of Danish films (thanks in part to Dogme 95) and I wanted to see how closely the languages resembled each other, how the Icelandic filmmakers portray their own country. A Danish friend told me that Icelandic is the closest to the original Viking language, and later I heard a professor on a CBC Radio program talking about the Icelandic sagas and giving examples of early to modern pronunciations. I’m quite fascinated by culture and linguistics, especially isolated languages such as Icelandic, the Basque region of Spain, Finland, etc. While technically not language isolates except for Basque, it is to be expected that a strong sense of nationalism is evident in these countries/regions. Having a distinct language is a source and expression of pride.

The movie itself is as I’ve read, showing the younger generation of Iceland in a rather hedonistic light, giving authority the finger (or two), and living on a steady diet of ennui. Not exactly favourable, but some of the lines in the movie are priceless. I’d post them, but they aren’t nearly as funny as text.

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Not having a TV, I totally missed this… it’s a parody of the SNL skit “Lazy Sunday” that I found by stumbling upon the fansite for “The Office”. In late 2004, David and I read in the local Scranton paper that NBC was going to make an American version of the British show. By the time it made its debut in early 2005, we’d seen the original BBC show on NetFlix DVDs and predicted that the American show would never get off the ground. I even bet it wouldn’t last more than a season.

Boy, were we wrong! In its third season in 2007, The Office has won awards, is still going strong, and Steve Carell’s star is rising.

I’m glad for the show, I’m glad for Carell (he deserves it — he’s a funny, funny man), but most of all I’m glad for Scranton because it’s now on the map for more than just being a place where a truck overturned, lost its bananas, and Harry Chapin — who must’ve been short on material — wrote a song about it. I’m sure the people of Scranton are well and truly ready for something else to small-talk over when they leave town and people ask where they’re from.

I find it mind-boggling that there’s even enough interest in the area’s businesses from the show that the Scranton Times Tribune has a page on their website giving their Office Tour of Scranton.

I wish I could tell David about it. He’d be so shocked… and pleased!

Technorati tags: The Office, YouTube, Scranton

Scotiabank Theatre

Last weekend wiped me out so much this past week that practically the only thing I accomplished when not working, except for ground school on Wednesday, was plentiful amounts of sleeping. I’m going to a Saturday morning ground school class to make up for the one I missed thanks to bad weather back in January, so no lie-in until Sunday.

After work I suggested a 2-for-1 coupon movie to a colleague — a comedy, because we all need a comedy now and again — and we inhaled Vietnamese food beforehand. While waiting for the food to arrive I reminded myself to take a picture of it before instead of after the fact like last time, but when it came that idea went completely out of mind again. Vietnamese food: YUM!

The comedy? The figure skating spoof Blades of Glory. My friend doesn’t like Will Ferrell, but I somehow managed to convince her to give this one a try. I laughed most of the way through it, especially during their first routine together. There are so many international figure skating inside jokes I don’t know if I caught them all, but if you follow competitive skating I guarantee you’ll laugh. The costumes alone are hilarious, but watch for cameos from Nancy Kerrigan (where’s Tonya Harding? haha), Brian Boitano, Peggy Fleming, Dorothy Hamill, Scott Hamilton, Sasha Cohen, and others.

Some one-liners from the character Chazz Michael Michaels:

Chazz: Mind-bottling. Like your mind is trapped in a bottle.
Chazz: They laughed at Louie Armstrong when he said he was going to the moon, and now he’s laughing at them from up there.

I wouldn’t pay full price for this movie but like I said we used a 2-for-1 coupon, so I can definitely say it was worth our $6 each!

Technorati tags: Blades of Glory

I saw Fido last night, out of morbid curiosity. I’ve never been particularly taken with the idea of zombies, but this movie’s story looked interesting — and I’m always up for political satire. (I wanted to see Jon Stewart performing in Niagara Falls at the beginning of June, but the only tickets left were on the ballroom floor. After Ticketmaster charges are factored in, it’s too pricey for me!)

Anyway, Fido was… rather bizarre! I can’t even slot this film into a genre — it’s a mixture of comedy, horror (if you’re easily grossed out, I don’t recommend it), with some “Lassie” thrown in. But it’s eye candy, too: it was shot in Kelowna and Vernon, BC. I never thought I’d see Billy Connolly playing a zombie, grunting his way through a role. And I have to admit, I’ve always had a thing for Henry Czerny. Carrie-Anne Moss plays a character completely removed from the Matrix, and isn’t wearing a prosthesis — she’s actually pregnant. You’ll either love this film or hate it, but I love that Telefilm Canada funded this highly original project.

Some photos from yesterday:

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I’m flummoxed! Can this really be the same guy who starred in Amadeus and played one of the Buckman kids in Parenthood?

I thought he was charmingly cute at one time. Er, I guess that was in the 80s. Sheesh. Now he looks more like Richard Dreyfuss!

Technorati tags: IMDB, Tom Hulce

Pentax K-1000
Niagara Falls Parkway
Sunday, March 4, 2007

I need a break from studying for my PSTAR exam, a test given by Transport Canada for the private pilot’s license, so I’m going to see “Notes on a Scandal”. I was going to see it two weekends ago, but ended up at the wrong cinema and saw “Perfume” instead. Maybe tonight I’ll finally write my review on that and the two films I saw the weekend before: “Little Miss Sunshine” and “Volver”.

I arrived home late after a cinematic bingefest. I used to go to the cinema on my own from time to time before I met David, but we watched so many films together (especially through Netflix) that it took me such a long time to get back into the movies. I’ve gone with a few other people since then, but my heart hasn’t been in it until quite recently. I had a craving for film this weekend.

So I guess I’m making up for it now.

I sure pick ‘em, though: between two movies there were three deaths and a terminally ill cancer patient. That would’ve been the fourth death, if Almodovar hadn’t stopped at–

–oh wait, that’s enough spoilers.

I was originally planning to see Children of Men, but when I saw the film list at the Carlton, the timing worked out for me to see both Little Miss Sunshine* and Volver*. I’m glad I saw them in that order, because I still would’ve been thinking about Volver if I saw Little Miss Sunshine second. Volver is a much better film, and the one I wanted to percolate in my head after leaving the cinema. The cancer patient scene is how it ended, and for that reason I was glad that I was alone in my car to weep in peace while the car heater melted the ice on my windshield.

* I’ll write more of a review on these later.

Technorati tags: Volver, Little Miss Sunshine, film

Canon A80
December 9, 2006
Campbellford, Ontario

"The Friendly Giant" was one of my favourite TV programs as a kid. I’ll never forget his words, "Look up, look WAAAAYYYY up…" after he arranged the miniatures.

These photographs were signed by Bob Homme and given to Harold Carlaw. The items are now part of his museum in Campbellford, which often hosts school field trips. Harold told me that Bob had a difficult time trying to sell his concept of the show, and uses it as an example to kids that persistence has its rewards.

Technorati tags: Friendly Giant, CBC

Nokia 6682

It’s been a blustery day here in Toronto. The windows were rattling since last night and I wouldn’t be surprised if trees were downed.

Between laundering, household choring, and the lightest of cooking, I watched the Taiwanese film Yi Yi, which I would highly recommend over A Prairie Home Companion, which I watched last night. Granted, they are not comparable films, but storywise Yi Yi takes the prize.

Prairie is not unwatchable — in fact, Meryl Streep is as watchably talented as ever, and Woody Harrelson and John C. Reilly make a great cowboy strumming duo — but when David and I heard they were making his favourite radio program into a movie (Lindsay Lohan? Say it ain’t so!), we adjusted our expectations accordingly: fair to middling. In that respect, expectations were definitely met. Lily Tomlin’s attempt of a Midwestern accent was admirable.

Yi Yi runs nearly three hours long, but it look me literally all day to get through it because, as with all films not in your native tongue, you have to watch every second of it if you want to catch all the subtitled dialogue. I refuse to watch dubbing on DVD, so I ended up backtracking a lot today. It’s worth it, though. I don’t even remember why I didn’t manage to see it in Vancouver the first time around (I even remember the trailer); I think it was one of those many titles in my Netflix queue that I had to abandon when I left Pennsylvania. We don’t have Netflix in Canada.